Wind or Solar Power?

Wind or Solar Power?
Shantanu Vinchurkar

Our society has begun to use more renewable resources after learning the negative impacts of nonrenewable resources. Due to the use of renewable resources society is taking the right step to keep the Earth clean, but we still heavily rely on fossil fuels. If we use more of these renewable resources then we wouldn't have to rely on fossil fuels and save them for other uses. Wind and solar power are a few of the most common renewable resources that the world uses. Both of these resources obtainable anywhere of the Earth, so they make a fair comparison.


Solar Energy is obtained by photovoltaic solar panels absorbing sunlight and turning it into power. Solar energy is great for places with a lot of sunlight, but it can be used in all places. Solar energy is great in areas like India because they have a huge footprint. Additionally, in India, it gets very hot, and the sun is out a lot, which makes them perfect for solar energy. I have taken many trips to India, and every time I go there is a cloud of smoke visible everywhere in the city. Solar power has been implemented in some areas of India, and it is slowly moving to more parts of the country. It is also great for Suburban areas. By installing solar panels to your home, the price of the property goes up and attracts more eco-friendly people to move in.

Wind Energy, on the other hand, uses wind harnessing devices(wind turbines) to make energy. It is a little different from solar energy because it requires one turbine to reach many users. Wind energy is great for places in the midwest part of the U.S due to their weather during the year. Also, wind energy is great near bodies of water because those areas are fairly windy in general. Wind energy does not require much wind to make much energy. Unlike solar energy, a small wind can power a family's home with 100 kilowatts of energy. 


Many homeowners in the United States have traditionally tended to use solar-energy roof arrays to power their homes while growing numbers of commercial companies shift toward wind power. For your house, the one advantage of wind over solar is that wind turbines can produce power 24 hours a day because they are not dependent on sunlight. Since these systems use less electricity, emit less carbon dioxide, and produce more total energy, wind power is considered more powerful than solar. A single wind turbine will produce the same amount of kilowatt-hours of electricity as a thousand solar panels. Wind and solar energy have there ups and downs, but they are great energy sources.

Sources:
https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/is-solar-or-wind-a-better-way-to-power-your-home
https://www.awea.org/wind-101/basics-of-wind-energy
https://www.energysage.com/solar/

Questions:
Which energy source do you think is better?

How long until the Earth becomes fully reliant on renewable resources?

Is there another renewable resource that can beat wind and solar power?

Coronavirus a threat to Great Apes?

Alex Thomas

I couldn't really think of a topic to write about, but then I realized what to do. APES. Apes. Great Apes! Through all of this stir regarding Corona virus we tend to forget about our close relatives the Great Apes. When we tend to think of the problems regarding the population of Great Apes most of us immediately turn to poachers or we turn to habitat destruction, but it turns out infectious disease is actually one of the biggest threats in regards to Great Apes. As of right now there haven't been any cases in connection to the Great Apes, but it's safe to assume that they can contract the disease due to our close ancestry. Many countries are taking precautions to protect the ape populations in their areas and are doing their best to prevent this disease from reaching them.


The biggest threat to Great Apes is tourism as the disease could easily be transferred if someone were to be reckless or not maintain their distance from the apes. A lot of organizations have actually come to the conclusion that closing off their facilities is the best way to protect the animals that reside there. One such example would be the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center who has actually closed their doors to the public to prevent any way of tourism causing their apes to contract the disease or allow the disease to mutate in any way. Another requirement that many facilities are adopting is requiring their workers to maintain a specific distance from the animals as well as obviously keeping any infected person as far from the facility as possible. Most facilities have set rules requiring their workers to maintain at least 7 meters between them and the animals, but are advising that they stay within 10 meters instead. This can cause complications, but at times like these it's required in order to keep the Great Apes safe.

Most facilities have set rules requiring their workers to maintain at least 7 meters between them and the animals, but are advising that they stay within 10 meters instead. This can cause complications, but at times like these it's required in order to keep the Great Apes safe. Although the ideal situation would be that all facilities close until all of this is over some have remained open. A good way to prevent the Corona virus from transmitting is by keeping our clothes as well as footwear clean and disinfected before approaching or getting near these animals enclosures as well as wearing masks to prevent transmitting it through the air. And then of course if one is feeling ill or in any way sick they should avoid coming into contact with the facilities that these animals are held in.

Overall the Corona virus could be detrimental to the work that many conservation facilities are working toward. The worst thing about all of this is that fact that we just don't know everything about this virus and that other animals may be susceptible to the virus. The best thing we can all do is just to stay safe and away from these animals until everything cools off.


Questions:
Do you think the Great Apes are susceptible to the Corona Virus?

How do you think we can help to prevent Corona Virus from spreading to these animals?

What do you think poses the greatest threat to the Great Apes?

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52236493

https://www.livescience.com/great-apes-coronavirus-risk.html

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/primatologists-work-keep-great-apes-safe-coronavirus